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by historicallyredacted (lockandkey)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, M/M, One Shot, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-17 22:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19964134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lockandkey/pseuds/historicallyredacted
Summary: There's a new janitor in his office





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**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote this alil while back, originally thinking to have it be a longer story, but I decide I like it better short and sweet.

Zhang Fai, or ‘Frank’, currently worked in the World Trade Center in Los Angeles. His somewhat bullshit official title was Global Operations Coordinator; which essentially meant he oversaw other people with similarly bullshit titles.

How was his experience in America? Well, Zhang Fai found out there was a _big_ love hate relationship with China. There was nearly no business without Chinese input, no economy, and you couldn’t call yourself successful or remotely important unless you happened to have a connection to people in high places within China. Every day, he had Americans and white people from other former British colonies attempting to speak poor Mandarin to him. Girls asking him out for “business” dinners. Men, trying to find some kind of common ground. 

So, Fai rose higher and higher up the corporate ladder over the years. Did he want to be here? Not especially, no, but paying bills (and not giving reason for his Grandmother to murder him) were equally important. But, that didn’t mean spending the next few years in Los Angeles was something enjoyable. It was just a stepping stone to… _something_. In this massive building, there were no personal connections between people, not really, especially with the ‘boss’. Other Chinese employees stayed away for the most part, they knew ‘Frank’ was half Canadian and assumed he’d prefer the Americans. The American employees tended to either be naïve, or (hopefully unintentionally) rude. Sometimes a surprising mix of the two. (‘You’re so tall for an Asian!’ It got old, real fast.)

It was a different work climate than when he was younger, just out of college, and working in Hong Kong for a few years. Everything was more casual, more enjoyable, but then again he didn't remember a ton of those years. He’d spent a good deal of that time socially drinking with other former students, roommates, girlfriends ( and the guys that no one knew about.)

But, he wasn't an early 20 something year old anymore. He didn't need friends, or to socialize, he didn't need to date. Frank just needed to do his work, go home to his loft, and play a not _insignificant_ amount of videogames.

So, regardless of speaking fluent English, despite half of his family calling him Frank, Zhang Fai stayed Zhang Fai – he didn’t interact with people, he didn’t make friends, and for the most part he _never_ spoke English (outside of restaurants and his apartment, that is.)

Which all led to a snowballing situation that easily could have been stopped with a single word, but Fai was getting bored, and tired, and honestly? Lonely.

So, it all started late one night, while still at the office, that Zhang Fai walked out of his bathroom and nearly ran into a janitor.

The janitor seemed to be new, Frank had certainly never seen him before, and he thought he would have noticed the guy. The janitor was looking around his office with intrigue, loosely holding a pushbroom in one hand. It was taller than the janitor was. When he spotted the person the office belonged to, the young man looked sheepish, and started talking at an alarming rate.

It would have been easy, to just say, “ _don’t worry about it. I’m Frank by the way.”_

But instead, Frank had to be _Fai_. So, Fai said nothing, and just cocked an eyebrow.

The janitor’s eyes got big, and he did a second glance around the office that was expertly styled in a way that screamed Chinese. None of it had been Franks idea, it had been arranged by the American side of operations, but he didn’t particularly care either. Interior design wasn’t exactly a strong point of his.

“Oh shit, do you not speak English?” The young man waved his hands animatedly as he spoke, nearly hitting Frank with the broom a few times.

Fai waited, the janitor frowned. Then, he pulled a phone out of one of many pockets, and started typing quickly. Then, inexplicably, he held up the phone to Fai.

Google translate was on the screen, and Frank had to resist the urge to laugh out loud. The message was explaining that he was in fact new, and hadn’t known anyone was on the floor still, and asked if Fai wanted him to leave. Granted, what it translated out to was less than perfect, but he would have been able to get the gist of it even if Frank couldn’t just as easily read the English side of the translation.

Zhang Fai smiled politely, and waved his hand towards the room, giving him permission to continue to working. The janitor looked highly pleased the translation hadn’t failed him, and got to work.  
Fai sat back down at his desk, but in all honesty was mostly just watching the janitor work. He was quick, but nervous and fidgety. He had headphones hanging around his neck, not being used, but still blasting music audibly. By the time he reached the desk to re-bag the garbage can, Fai had gotten all of about one half document finished.

Then, the same phone was stuck in front of his face. Google translate again.

‘What is your name?’ The way it was written in hanzi didn’t sound like a normal way to actually ask for someones name; but again, Frank didn’t really need to read it in Chinese.

“Zhang Fai,” he said politely.

The guy grinned widely, full of pearly whites. “Leo Valdez. Nice to meet you. Wait shit, you don’t know what I'm saying, wait, now you really don’t know what I’m saying. Damn you attractive rich man, damn you. You scrambled my circuits, you tall dark and handsome bastard. Oh God, word vomit, please stop me.”

It would have been the perfect opportunity to reveal himself, but instead, Frank kept mum. He played at looking mildly confused, which created a new torrent of words to spill out of the other guys mouth.

Maybe he wouldn’t miss Hong Kong so much after all.

Frank decided to ask Leo if he spoke French, in French, just for fun.

**Author's Note:**

> Between contract work, I work nights as a janitor to save up some extra $ but that led to this idea.  
> Similarly, my grandpa was a pretty caucasian looking dude. Some folks thought he was native, but generally speaking, he looked white. He'd fuck with people because he spoke both fluent Welsh and Mandarin in the middle of nowhere Nevada during the goddamn 30s.
> 
> Anyway I like the idea of bigboss man Frank coming home, taking off an expensive suit, and then spending like three hours playing overwatch or something.


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